


I'm Like A Scarf Trick, It's All Up The Sleeve

by EmmyLouWho



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Birthday Party, Flirting, Fluff, Gold boots, M/M, Magic Tricks, Meet-Cute, event planner!louis, magician!harry, oops/hi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-13
Updated: 2016-10-13
Packaged: 2018-08-22 05:23:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8274428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmmyLouWho/pseuds/EmmyLouWho
Summary: Just as Louis was checking his watch for the thirtieth time, he heard the front door open, followed by an ominous crash. Fearing the worst, Louis bolted to the door, but instead of finding a crying child as he expected, he was greeted by the sight of a tall, decidedly adult person lying facedown on Louis’ mum’s hallway floor, tangled up in a red sparkly cape. 
   “Oops,” said the red sparkly lump, flailing around for a second before freeing one of their arms and pulling the cape away from their legs. And, whoa – definitely not an old guy with a creepy moustache. Harry the Magnificent was hot.  In which Louis’ siblings are having a birthday party, and Harry is the professional magician hired as the entertainment.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from 'Victorious' by Panic! at the Disco.  
> Enjoy!

Louis wiped his hand across his cheek and grimaced when it came back smeared with blue. He brought his hand back up to his mouth and licked the stray icing off, frowning when he realised he had no idea how long he’d been walking around with blue buttercream on his face, or even how it had gotten there in the first place considering that the giant blue monstrosity that was his siblings’ birthday cake was on the other side of the house. The concern for his vanity faded quickly though when he remembered that right now he had bigger problems. Or, more accurately, a house-full of small problems. 

Quite frankly, at this point Louis was regretting all his life choices. He should have studied something boring like business, or, he didn’t know, _maths_ , at uni instead of becoming an event planner. Or at least he should have known better than to offer to plan the twins’ birthday party, since hey, that was what he did for a living and all, it would be no problem, mum, honest. Famous last words. 

Louis had been a professional event planner for eight months now, he’d organised giant corporate functions and had dealt with brides having meltdowns on their wedding days, and so he had thought that a small birthday party at his mum’s house would be easy by comparison. Louis was now realising that snobby CEOs and bridezillas were nothing in comparison to five-year olds. And he had _twelve_ of them, plus the two twins and the rest of his siblings, and all the assorted parents and guardians. Why on earth had he ever thought that this would be a good idea? 

There was something about a birthday party that seemed to make kids go crazy – even the most quiet, shy kids suddenly turned into sugar-fuelled monsters. Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if the party had been outside in their backyard like Louis had envisioned, but a sudden and unseasonable downpour of rain had ended that idea that morning. Unable to get a marquee last minute, even after bribing his favourite hire guy, Niall, Louis had been forced to move the party inside. His mum’s house wasn’t small by any means, but it was chaotic even on a normal day, full just with Louis’ six younger siblings, his mum and her husband. Adding twelve of the twins’ school friends made the place feel like a three ring circus. Ironic, Louis thought wryly to himself, considering the party was actually carnival themed. 

Ernest and Doris were running around in matching sequinned costumes, custom made by Louis friend Zayn, who worked as a tailor and owed him a favour for all the wedding dress referrals he sent his way. The kids had been fed a mountain of sugary treats, and now they were just waiting for the entertainment to arrive. This was exactly where Louis’ problem lay – he had originally planned a series of outside games for the kids to play before the entertainer arrived, but now that they were impossible, he simply had to wait for the magician to show up. He had booked ‘Harry the Magnificent’ on Niall’s recommendation, actually, apparently this Harry was the children’s party entertainer to beat all children’s party entertainers, charming the kids with a mixture of magic tricks and jokes. Louis thought that ‘Harry the Magnificent’ sounded like an old guy who probably had a creepy moustache, but Niall said he was always a hit, and at this point Louis didn’t care what this guy’s facial hair preferences were as long as he turned up soon. He had been booked for half three, and it was now quarter past. Louis wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep these kids from climbing the walls, and so he hoped that as well as being Magnificent, Harry was also Punctual. 

Just as Louis was checking his watch for the thirtieth time, he heard the front door open, followed by an ominous crash. Fearing the worst, Louis bolted to the door, but instead of finding a crying child as he expected, he was greeted by the sight of a tall, decidedly adult person lying facedown on Louis’ mum’s hallway floor, tangled up in a red sparkly cape. 

“Oops,” said the red sparkly lump, flailing around for a second before freeing one of their arms and pulling the cape away from their legs. And, whoa – definitely not an old guy with a creepy moustache. Harry the Magnificent was _hot_. Niall’s _“have fun!!!!! ;) ;) ;)”_ text suddenly made sense now. 

“Hi,” said Louis. “I’m guessing you’re the magician?”

“Yes! Harry the Magnificent, at your service,” he exclaimed with a strange sort of wiggle. Louis guessed that had he not been lying on the floor, it might have been a bow. 

“I’m Louis,” he said, “the Sadly-Quite-Normal.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Harry the Magnificent said, “you look alright to me.”  
He punctuated this with a wink, and Louis felt a fluttering in his stomach. 

“Right,” he said, “shall I give you a hand, then?”

Harry blushed, and took Louis’ outstretched hand, clambering to his feet. He brushed himself off, and Louis got a good look at his full outfit. As well as the cape, Harry was wearing gold sparkly boots, a black t-shirt, and skinny jeans that were so tight that Louis questioned their appropriateness at a kids party. Not that Louis was going to complain – Harry had the kind of legs that deserved to be shown off. 

Harry coughed, and Louis snapped his eyes back up from where they had been staring at Harry’s thighs. And oh god – this was his siblings’ birthday party. He should _not_ be having dirty thoughts about the magician, even if he was pretty sure he was half in love with him after knowing him all of two minutes. _No flirting,_ Louis told himself. _No._

“Sorry about the falling over thing,” Harry said, looking sheepish, “I promise I’m much better at magic then I am at walking in a straight line.”

“Well, what with them legs of yours, I’m not surprised.” Louis mentally face-palmed himself. So much for no flirting. 

Harry didn’t seem to mind though, because he just laughed. “They are a bit of a hazard sometimes,” he agreed, giving Louis a cheeky grin. 

“So, the party’s through here,” Louis said, gesturing into the house, “I’m so glad you’re here. The kids have been going stir-crazy stuck inside.”

“No problem,” Harry said, not looking fazed. “Where would you like me to set up?” 

“Um, over here is fine,” Louis said, showing Harry the small area he had kept clear. 

“Thank you, Louis,” Harry smiled, patting Louis reassuringly on the arm, “I’ll be ready to go in just a minute, if you’d like to gather the children.” 

He opened up a suitcase that Louis hadn’t noticed him carrying, and pulled out an assortment of items including a black top hat, a small box, and a deck of playing cards, and set them aside. He smiled at Louis when he saw him still standing there. Louis smiled back. 

“Louis? The kids?” 

Oops. 

“Right, on it!”

 

Ten minutes later, Louis couldn’t believe what he was seeing.  
All the kids were sitting cross-legged on the lounge room floor in front of Harry, completely entranced as they watched him perform a complicated magic trick involving a golf ball and a glass jar. They were completely silent. The previous chaos was gone. If he wasn’t seeing it with his own two eyes, Louis would never have believed it. Forget the tricks, the way that Harry had his audience in the palm of his hand was magic enough, if you asked Louis. The kids gasped and applauded at the completion of each of the magic tricks Harry performed, and laughed at his jokes, even the terrible ones. _Especially_ the terrible ones. 

Harry was incredible, and Louis was in love. He was going to have to send Niall thank-you flowers after this. Or maybe thank-you bacon. He’d probably appreciate that more. Just as Louis was wondering if there was anywhere he could order a bacon bouquet online (you could get everything on the internet these days, right?), Harry popped up in front of him out of nowhere. He hadn’t even realised the show had finished. 

He jumped a foot in the air in shock, and threw out a hand to try and catch himself on the door frame but missed. The next thing he knew, he was flat on his back, getting a good view of the living room ceiling and Harry’s face looming over him. 

“Oops,” he said. 

“Hi,” Harry said, looking delighted, “this is making me feel a lot better about our first meeting.”

Louis barked out a surprised laugh. “Shut it,” he said, “It’s not my fault I was scared half to death by a magician randomly materialising in front of me.”

“Ahh,” Harry said wisely, “hazard of the job.”

He swept his sparkly cape to the side and stuck his hand out, pulling Louis back up to his feet. When he was vertical once more, he found they were standing very close now - so close that Louis could see the tiny flecks in Harry’s green eyes. He realised suddenly that their right hands were still joined together between them, but if Harry hadn’t let go, Louis wasn’t going to be the one to remind him. Harry must have realised too though, because he gave Louis’ hand a quick squeeze and then released it, but he didn’t move away. 

“So,” Louis said, looking up at Harry, “you were _amazing_. The kids loved you, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Thanks, Lou,” Harry said, cheeks turning pink. 

“Seriously, Harry, you’re the best magician I’ve ever seen.”

“Have you seen a lot of magicians then?”

“Well, I don’t mean to brag, but I have seen all eight _Harry Potter_ films.” 

Harry cackled. 

“Yer a wizard, Harry,” he said, in a scarily accurate Hagrid impression. 

“Oh god,” Louis laughed, “I imagine you get that a lot, then?”

“You have no idea,” Harry said. 

“So, Harry-the-Magnificent-definitely-not-Harry-Potter,” Louis said, popping out one hip, “can I get your number, then? You know, for if I have any magical emergencies?”

Harry opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, there was a loud screech and Louis suddenly had a twin clinging to each leg. 

“Lou, Lou, Lou,” they cheered, bouncing up and down on his feet and then talking at the same time over the top of each other – “Did’ya see the magic, Lou? It was _so cool_!” “And then the cup disappeared!”

Louis reached down and grabbed the twins hands in an effort to get them to stand still. “Yeah, I did, Harry was pretty awesome, hey?”

The twins suddenly seemed to notice that Harry was standing in front of them, and immediately went quiet. Louis chuckled. Ernest and Doris looked awestruck, staring at Harry like he held all the secrets to the universe. 

Harry looked very pleased, bending down to the twins’ level to smile at them. “I’m glad you liked it,” he told them. “I hope you’re having a great birthday!”

He cupped his hands in front of his face, made a big show of puffing out his cheeks and blowing into his hands, and then opened them to reveal two white daisies. He handed one to each twin, Ernest grabbing his enthusiastically and immediately tucking it behind one ear, Doris immediately copying her brother.

If Louis thought watching Harry perform from across the room was bad enough, witnessing him work his magic – _literally_ – on his littlest siblings at close range might be enough to kill him. It might not be a bad way to go, Louis mused, death by unfairly cute children’s party entertainer. 

“Oh, here my babies are!” Louis mum’ suddenly came bursting around the corner. “I wondered where you two got to,” she said, ruffling the twins’ hair. 

“Look, mum,” Ernest chirped, “Harry made us magic flowers!” 

“Oh, wow! Did you tell him thank you?”

“Thank you Harry!” the twins recited in unison. 

“You’re very welcome.” Harry caught Louis’ eye over the top of the twins’ heads and grinned. Louis felt warm all the way down to his toes, the stress of earlier long melted away. 

“Sorry to interrupt,” Louis’ mum said, “I’ve just come to collect the twins because it’s time to cut the cake.” 

As soon as the word ‘cake’ left her mouth, the twins were off like a shot, racing over to the kitchen.  
“So I really should get going,” Harry said, looking apologetic. 

Louis tried not to let his disappointment show too obviously on his face. “You sure you can’t stay for some cake? It’s from that great bakery over on Elizabeth Street and it’s big enough to feed the whole neighbourhood.”

“I really wish I could,” Harry said, “but I have another event booked in an hour and I have to get ready.”

“Ah, a magician’s work is never done.”

“It’s a tough life,” Harry winked, “but someone’s got to do it.” 

He picked up his suitcase with one hand and placed the other on Louis’ shoulder. 

“This was a really great party, Louis,” he said, “and trust me, I go to enough of them to know. You did a good job.”

“Thanks,” Louis said quietly. “Wait, how did you know I planned the party?” 

“My friend Niall may have told me about you… enough that I made sure to wear my sparkliest cape in the hopes of impressing you.” Harry batted his eyelashes ridiculously, making Louis giggle. 

“Consider me impressed,” he said. He couldn’t believe how unexpected this whole day had been. 

“I really do have to go,” Harry sighed. 

“I’ll walk you out,” Louis volunteered, sidling next to Harry to make the pitifully short journey around the corner to the front door. 

“Thanks for escorting me,” Harry said, “I was quite sure I would have gotten lost otherwise.”

“You’re welcome,” Louis said primly. 

“I had a really fun afternoon,” Harry said, “would you like to do this again sometime?”

“What, invite you to perform at my siblings’ birthday party?” Louis teased. 

Harry stuck his tongue out at him. “Yeah, or we could do something more grown up maybe?”

Louis eyebrows shot up. 

“Dinner!” Harry blurted. “I meant, something more grown up like dinner, you know, where there aren’t kids, and…”

He cut himself off when he realised Louis was laughing at him. 

“Your face!” Louis crowed. “Harry, you have no idea how much I would love to have a very grown up dinner with you.”

Harry was blushing as he opened the door. “Great,” he said, “Why don’t you text me later and we’ll organise a time?”

“That sounds perfect,” Louis said. 

Harry grinned in response, and turned to walk out the door. 

“Wait,” Louis said, suddenly realising the glaring problem with their plan. “I don’t have your phone number!”

“Don’t you?” said Harry, grinning cheekily. “I’d check my wallet if I was you.” 

With a wave and a final swish of his cape he was gone, leaving Louis staring speechless at the doorway. He pulled out his wallet and opened it, and sure enough, poking out from behind his driver’s licence was a small piece of paper, neatly folded and tucked away. How on earth…? Louis carefully unfolded it, smoothing out the creases. There was a string of digits neatly printed on the small paper, followed by a row of smiley faces and a singular ‘x’.

Louis carefully transferred the number into his phone and immediately sent Harry a string of his favourite emojis. Forget trying to play it cool and wait to text him, Louis wasn’t going to try and play any of those dating mind games with Harry. With anybody else, he would have been scared that he would scare them off by coming on too strong, but even though it sounded cheesy even in his own mind, Louis was sure that Harry was different. They’d had a _connection_. He felt validated when no longer than thirty seconds later, he received a message from Harry, comprised solely of the upside down smiley face emoji. That pretty much sealed the deal, he thought to himself dramatically, they were basically soul mates. 

He cradled his phone to his chest and swayed from side to side for a bit, squealing internally, and then he put his phone back in his pocket and headed back into the party just in time to sing happy birthday to the twins. As he watched them cheer and carefully blow out all their candles, Louis couldn’t help but think that this was the best birthday he’d ever had, and it wasn’t even his party. His event had been successful, he was about to eat his weight in delicious white chocolate mud cake, and he had a phone in his pocket buzzing with a new text from the cutest boy he’d ever met. Magic, indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Please let me know what you thought :) :)


End file.
